Friday, April 30, 2010

Yippee - I whipped up a tonne of Frankens earlier in the week, They all turned out awesome and here is the first batch. I don't think I would purchase polish's in this colour family, so I made little mini batches. and even though I have worn all three of these this week, I cannot foresee myself falling in love with these shades of green. The finish though, these little flecks courtesy of the Claire's Yellow Brick Road, is soooooooo cool.

Below are the polish I used to create these, Claire's Matte Cobalt and Claire's Yellow Brick Road. Claire's Matte Cobalt is an awesome rich blue, two coats and dried super- duper fast ( no manicure pic's sorry! ) while Yellow Brick Road needs almost 5 coats. I will try this polish again layered over a stark white.....

So this is what I started out with. I filled each bottle 1/2 way with the Yellow Brick Road, then ......

The first bottle got 5 drops, the second bottle got 10 drops, and the third got 16 ( it was supposed to be 15) and this is what resulted. I love the finish on these. The Claire's polish really added alot to these weird green colours. I wish I had another bottle of Yellow Brick Road to create some other neat polish's with this finish..... On it's own this polish 'Yellow Brick Road' is very sheer; I think when I wore it alone I needed almost 5 coats. It definitely needs to be layered over something else.

L to R - Cliche Green, Hulk 1 and Hulk 2

Don't worry the Icing polish's that were in these bottle were Y.U.C.K.Y. and were put to better use. I poured them into another bottle and rinsed out these lil' bottles with acetone. But I have to add that the bottle form the Dollarama in Canada are Fabulous!!!!!!! I will be adding a bunch of photos of the frankens I made with them on Monday, along with some notes..... here is a little teaser photo......

Anyhoo, here is a few skittles as well as the darkest green I call Hulk 2............

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I really, really wish I could have found something like this made already. I know nail wheels are awesome, but I like color swatches lined up in a row much better.

hot glue gun glue is hot

♥ That should be name for one of my franken polish's.....just be careful whenever you use it ♥

Also if you decide to do this, and buy dollar store nails, make sure they are okay to polish, some cheap dollar store nails are NOT GOOD and will wrinkle and pucker when you apply polish to them ( why they even sell them.................... I don't know )

When I painted these, I made sure to make an excel spreadsheet with the names of the polish and how many coats. Eventually I plan to print them out on sticker paper and affix it to the back of each nail board thing.

I hope I sorta explained this properly I need to whip up a few more when i get more nails....I plan on doing a better job explaining with better photos....

So I would say, that this was a time consuming project. I glued 600 false nails to 1 1/2 inch by 8 inch pieces of foam board. My reason for doing things this way, was so when I open my top drawer of my Helmer or Melmer ( which I don't have....yet) these will be standing upright and I will easily be able to see all my polishes swatched. I wish I took pictures of the process = but I will be doing this again soon I just need to hop over to the Dollarama and grab more nails, though.

I also find that it will be much easier to photograph these swatches, if I add polish to these before I actually wear the polish.... by propping them up in my light box, or just a sheet of poster-board that I sometimes use.

Essentially, I cut up a piece of this lightweight foam board to the sizes I wanted and glued the nails on with a glue gun and hot glue. It was very easy but time consuming. In the evening I would just pop a movie on and go to town glue-ing. I laid the piece of foam board on a flat surface, and butted up another piece against it, so that when i applied a blob of hot glue to it and affixed the nail to the board it would stay I will work on a visual for that and when I hit the dollar store on the weekend, I may try to produce a video.

In total for 600 nails, it probably took 4 hours......however I actually enjoy these types of menial crafts and tasks, so it wasn't so bad.

I really just eyeballed where their placement was, but I suppose marking off where they should be would help to keep them spaced evenly..... as long as they stayed "straight'' to the actual board and lined up properly I am happy

Some of these nails had sharp edges, and that little bit of plastic left over from snapping them out of the mold at the factory. So I had to file most of them after they were glued down.

below, the smaller piece of foam board I used to keep my false nails straight and prevent them from dropping off the edge of the foam board.

I butted the edges up like this, otherwise the hot glue would just make the nail dip and they would be all crooked ( dang this is hard to explain.... does any of this make sense? )

so..... see what I mean? If I hadn't used the other board to make sure the nails stayed in line, they would have 'dipped' down and been all wonky.....

My latest batch of Frankens..... ( the 'uglyies' get their own section )

oops, I should have straightened my camera out.....

These are the nails I used, I found these at Dollarama, I grabbed 6 boxes. ( I need more)

foam board from dollarrama - this comes in different colours and you can also get it at Walmart and craft stores, like Micheal's and Hobby Lobby..... 24x 28 each little piece I cut was 1 1/2 inch by 8 inches.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

They were super fun to make & took a long time ~ I'm very happy with them

I couldn't have a post with out a photo - I will do a post on these soon

♥

I have read a few blogs recently with people in cuticle crisis, and have been wanting to do a post about it.

Here are a few things I do and some thoughts on the subject.

Here is the gist of this long *ss post........

♥ NO Cuticle Remover - apply blob of lotion to soften this area ( keep reading for more info on this )♥ NO Cuticle cutting♥ Lotion Lotion Lotion♥ barrier cream to cuticle area AFTER lotion♥ Use a non-dryng soap (♥♥♥ or try to ♥♥♥)♥ Dry hands thoroughly after washing♥ Apply moisturizer to hands, BEFORE polish Removal♥ Apply a good barrier cream or moisturizer to cuticle area before painting♥ Do the lotion and glove thing overnight - you cont need fancy gloves, $1 store gloves are fine ♥ Look in the mirror every morning, and hold your hands out in front of you, with your nails facing the mirror, and say 3 times, "You're beautiful, You're amazing.... You're a Star"

Okay ~ I don't do all these things all the time, ( except the last one, that I do EVERY DAY ) but I definitely never ever use cuticle remover, and I never cut anything. I get a hangnail on my ring fingers ( BOTH!) in fall time, when that happens I just add a dab of nail glue to it, and if I have to i snip it off I do with a sharp pair of nail scissors then add a dab nail glue to it( seriously ). I have enough cuts on my hands due to my activities and clumsiness, the dread and memory of that kind of pain of cut cuticles and hangnails keeps me in line!

Firstly, cuticle remover..... what does this stuff do exactly? I know I bought some a long, long time ago, but I did not find that it did anything amazing, how is it removing your cuticles? these are questions you need to ask yourself if you use this product.

If you apply a blob of moisturizer along your nail bed, cuticles and the sides of your nails and leave it there for five minutes, the tough skin that is attached to your actual nail, will become pliable and moveable, you will be able to scrape and push away any skin with an orangewood stick or any other impliment.

I personally have not used cuticle remover creams or gels in a long time. If it is necessary, I will just slap on a blob of any type of lotion, and allow it to sit on my nail bed and cuticles to soften the skin in this area, then gently push and move the dried layer of skin. I hardle ever do this, though. I think i lucked out by having healthy cuticles. But more than luck is I take time to take care of my cuticle everyday

I think that with all the cooties and germs out there in the world, cuticle cutting would just be a big NO. If you have a painful hangnail, maybe snipping it off with a tiny sharp pair of manicure scissors would be ideal, then slapping on either nail glue or any another water resistant glue ( i do this all the time for small surface scratches = which i have alot of ) Cutting your cuticle will create way more problems then it will solve. I cant say I have seen any pair of hands that were so hideous I would recommend cuticle cutting - I think devoting time to applying good moisturizer or barrier creme to the cuticle area, will be much better in the long run then cutting the cuticle area.

If you feel that your cuticles are unruly and a horrific sight - you will likely not do any one thing today, and devote 5 minutes to it and then wake up tomorrow with super-model cuticles, sorry - it will take a while and bit more effort than that.

I am extremely interested to hear what ratio of people who use cuticle remover creams or gels, who also have alot of hang nails and cuticle problems. My belief is that these creams and gels are a mild acid, eating away at your skin, nothing good will come of that, and I would strongly encourage anyone using these products to find other ways to deal with their cuticles.

I would label myself with sensitive / dry skin, I have used some soaps that are sooooo drying, I have to wonder what is in them. If you wash your hands a thousand times a day, like me; then it's a good idea to invest in a good quality of soap. I also very rarely let my hands air dry, I try to dry them properly, and apply lotion if possible and when necessary.

I use a plain lotion from the grocery store - St Ives... something something. Nothing fancy. I think the fact that I use it often, and not the type it is = is what is important.

Before I remove my polish I try to apply moistureizer to my hands and nail area, it makes removal a little more goo-ey-er, but this helps to prevent the drying out of my fingertips and cuticles. I sometimes where a latex glove on the other hand ( the one i am not removing polish from )

Before I apply polish, I make sure to apply Avon Moisture Therapy hand creme with a tiny brush, to the skin surrounding my nails, and take time to get it along my cuticles and under my nail tips along the free edge - a little overkill~ but I usually do an acetone clean up before I take photos, this helps me get rid of any polish mistakes alot easier, and the Avon Moisture Therapy hand creme acts as a protective barrier so the acetone doesn't sink in and dry out my cuticles and the skin around my nails.

When I apply lotion to my hands, I make sure to pack the lotion into my cuticle area, along the sides of my nail bed and try to do this often. Sometimes, I apply lotion and wear gloves over night~ Just cheap gloves from the dollarama, I have a few pairs and don't think there is anything magical about those 'moisturizing ' gloves I have seen around.

Whew - I think thats it for now, I am sure I have a few more things to add.......

( grrr, why didnt this post - I posted it at the same time as my post below - DANG! )

Ahhhhhh! Another Wet n' Wild stunner - although this polish is sorta frosty as long as the brush strokes are straight, I'm good. This is a really pretty colour ~ I thought it would be much more silver IRL, but the light lavender is very noticeable in most lighting conditions. = LOVE IT! In Canada, these are $1.57 ( walmart) and $1.87 ( Zellers Dept store ). In my town, I had found that Zellers carries the best selection as well as entire line-up of Wet n' Wild products, while Walmart only has a select few of these Wet n' Wild Wild Shine polish's.

Any other Canadian chicks think we should start a petition to get Pure Ice brand of polish's up here......?????? I am surprised that the Bari line of cosmetics is not available in Canada yet.♥

Wet n' Wild 'Wild Card' 1 coat over two coats of a pigeon Grey franken I recently made..... no T.C.

Wow - Google has changed their blogger draft/photo upload thing-y again = I was a little miffed at first but now I love it! Just in case anyone logs on and freaks out like I did - basically they are FORCING you to add all your photos to Picasa, instead of being allowed to upload them from your computer.

♥

I have previously worn his beautiful and inexpensive Wet n' Wild Polish, 'Wild Card' but did not take a photo of it in the sunshine. I was wearing a very nice franken I made but totally trashed my nails with all the crafty things I had done earlier in the day = so I slapped on a coat of this pretty polish. Unfortunately it couldn't hide all the gouges and scratches, but it was a nice save for the rest of the evening.

I am still impressed with these new Wet n' Wild polish colours that have recently come out, as well as thier older ones. I cant believe I overlooked them for so long!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

This is a really pretty shade - A rich Peacock/teal with purple flash, It looks dark blue in indoor lighting = very cool. My application sucked due to this huge stumpy and knobby brush handle (why do they make them like this???????) I like this color and the flash of purple in it it and will eventually pick up a polish similar to this, just in a much better bottle and hopefully with a normal non-stumpy brush handle.

I have a tonne of bubblez and there is really no way to fix that. At the moment I am deciding what other polish I can layer over this to hide my shame...... something glittery of course.

Also - I hit up Claire's in the mall for their 10 for $10 and got alot of frankening supplies and a back-up of 'Magic' I love those 10 for $10 sales, but it makes me reluctant to buy polish at regular price now.... (not really, but, you know..........) I am super duper excited to play around with those holographic glitter polish's, as well as that intense yellow 'Yellow Brick Road' = it is going to make some seriously awesome green frankens!!!!!

Sun

Flash

- Below - my Claire's 10 for $10 Haul -

Back row;

Clean Slate -Metallic Gunmetal Grey-ish

Magic - For backup!!!!!

2 yellow brick roads for frankens

Matte Grey

Matte Cobalt ( really dark )

& 4 'Hollywood's' for frankens

Ugh - I couldn't stand those bubblez - So I added 1 coat of a franken I had recently made 'Iced Ice' and on my pinky's I added a coat of Pure Ice 'Oh Baby', below.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

At the end of March and the beginning of April - I had a string of bad mani's; I had a serious problem with bubblez, alot of smearing of polish, wacky nail art and alot of other things were going wrong. This polish, along with 3 others I wore I had to actually start over and re-apply after I completed my manicure.... I guess I had a bit of a bad polish streak, so when things did not look as good as I knew they could, I removed my entire manicure and started over.

I did a terrible job with the french Tip pen, I did not press down my nail tip guides as firmly as I should have, and I do not believe I snipped the protruding nail tip guides that were sticking off my nails which resulted in a alot of seepage. I planned to add the Claire's 'Magic' on top of this anyhow- but still..... I am glad that the vibrancy of the S.H. Polish 'Blue Me Away' showed up. Claire's "Magic' is much more sheer than I thought and I recommend layering Claire's 'Magic' over another color.

From now on, anytime I use Nail Tip Guides = either for polish or these Nailene French Tip Pens I will be applying a coat of Top Coat over the newly painted area. I have done this with my last 4 manicures which included using nail tip guides and they always turn out perfect. You can see that in my most recent diagonal mani HERE I am pretty sure I saw this tip on Kronicals of a Konader = so thank you very much♥

DONT DO WHAT DEEZ DID! When using nail tip guides, always add a layer of Top Coat to whatever you just painted as this should ensure a crisp line. and be sure to press down firmly on the nail tip guides when you apply them or your polish may seep under the edges like mine is here..

Middle - no Claire's Magic' RING & Index @ 1 coat

Thumb @ 2 coats of Claire's 'Magic'

Viola! The blue still looks vibrant after two coats of Claire's magic - which was a real surprise. I always imagined Claire's Magic to be a lot more opaque than this......hmmmmm

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

So I picked up 3 of these boxes of polish at Dollar-rama Dollar store in my town a few weeks ago. I figured that if the colours were not good, I would franken them or dump the polish and start over. This weekend I read on MUA and Franknenerdery, that she washed these bottles out with soap and water and whipped up a whole bunch of awesome frankens....... So it is a water soluable nail polish which means that I wouldnt have to dump out all the polish and then use acetone to get the rest of the polish out. Yippee

The colours that are available with these sets ( there are 3 different coloured sets at my dollarrama) DO NOT DRY they are like white school glue, I guess they are supposed to be non-toxic and for kids....

So I immediately tried this, I dumped out as much as I could and then washed it out with warm water = it came out super-duper easy! You bet I ran over to the dollarrama and bought like 10 more boxes.....I would have bought more but I want to be sure that they all work out as good as the first one. I think they have a decent brush, and the size is just perfect = and they are SQUARE too! I made my wet and wild frankens in these cut lil bottles.

I am beyond happy that I have discovered this - and I do want to be sure that I write that I am thankful for everyone sharing their photos and such - I know I get all sappy and sentimental but this is the sorta thing that means alot to me. When people are sharing their ideas and experiences and the things they have learned...... It's just really nice to see. I hope people are learning from me too♥

anyhoo- I have like 40 mini bottles of nail polish to dispose of, so have a lovely evening♥

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I love this one, Pure Ice 'Busted'. I have it layered over an Icing no name that I am temporarily calling 'Mystery Purple'. Pure Ice is an awesome brand of polish with lots of beautiful colours and finishes...... If you live in the USA you are lucky - at $2.00 a pop this is an awesome polish to have. i only have 5 polish's form this brand and I am looking forward to snagging alot more when I visit the USA (soon hopefully)

This is 1 coat of Pure Ice 'Busted' layered over 2 coats of Icing 'Mystery Purple'. I want to call 'Busted' a glass fleck finish.... am I right? Pure Ice has alot of pretty glass fleck finishes in their core line..... if your bored you should Google it - they make alot of beautiful polish all under $2.00 USD ♥